


Love's Labour's Lost

by HelgaHeason



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Feels, Heavy Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, NOTHING BUT PAIN, Other, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, all angst, angst angst and more angst, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 06:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16908060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelgaHeason/pseuds/HelgaHeason
Summary: A look at Vision and Wanda's thoughts during their scenes in Scotland and Wakanda.Or:I got ScarletVision feels at 11:30 at night and wrote this instead of sleeping.





	Love's Labour's Lost

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a Shakespeare play, and I gave the fic this title because both Vision and Wanda tried so hard, and failed all the same - ergo, the labour they put into their love still lost.   
> It seemed like a clever idea at the time.

Through the fog of ache in Vision’s newly-humanised mind, he smiled at the young woman, waking up in the bed opposite his fixed standing point. A woman living in a world designed to destroy her, yet surviving all the same. No – she wasn’t surviving. People like Wanda Maximoff didn’t survive in worlds like these. No – no, Vision thought. No – Wanda was thriving.  
So what if she was now a fugitive, on the run from the law and the Avengers, playing fast and loose with the rules? Vision loved her all the same. He smiled as the hopped out of bed, nightgown swaddling her like a blanket, eyes twinkling with uncertain hope, as they met his. He was almost certain that he could feel the gears within his eyes expand when their gazes met.  
Tony had, at some point, asked Wanda if she was brave. Vision ought to have been horrified at the question, but Wanda’s response had made him smile.  
 ** _[“Are you brave?” Tony had asked.  
Wanda had fixed him with a steely gaze, strong enough to fell titans, strong enough to slay gods.  
“No.” She had answered. “But I am alive.”.]_**  
Vision smiled again upon remembering this, but the smile was promptly wiped off his face by a sudden ripple of pain, the epicentre of which was the Mind Stone in his forehead. For the first time in his very short life, he cursed the Stone for being such a powerful object, for powering his synthetic body, for giving him his life. He knew all the Stone would cause was pain, but…  
But, surely, a thing like Wanda Maximoff was worth the pain?  
“Vis…” Wanda said, quietly, her voice soft and full of concern. Oh, what Vision would give to hear her say that under less… Threatened, circumstances. “What is it?”.  
Vision debated whether or not to tell her. He could tell her, couldn’t he? She basically owned his synthetic heart by now – the heart that was part of a body that, Vision thought, abysmally, was a perverse hybrid of metal, plastic, and something else.  
“He’s coming. He’s here, on earth.” He said, so softly, so scared. His voice trembled with artificial terror, the gears in his eyes dilating, the yellow Stone in his forehead glowing ever-brighter with his ever-present fear.  
There was a small, shocked intake of breath from Wanda’s part, which Vision had been expecting. What he hadn’t been expecting, however, was for her to suddenly pull him into a hug, that, had he had human bones, would for sure have been bone-crushing.  
When at last she let him go, her hands lingered on his face, his neck, the synthetic skin on the illusion of his human disguise. His flesh was a lie, he thought, sadly. He could never be human – but he thought he was doing an alright job of acting like one. His own eyes lingered on Wanda’s, watching as careful hands guided and coaxed the inhuman skin to relaxation. He smiled a little, and then gently took one of Wanda’s hands. She watched, a studious expression on her face, as he placed her hand on his forehead, over the Stone, with all the force of a butterfly. He didn’t know his own strength – he didn’t want to hurt her.  
“Tell me what you feel.” He said, quietly.  
Obediently, Wanda reached out into Vision’s terrified mind with her crimson tide of magic, and he didn’t resist. She searched for a few moments, but all she could feel was his newfound fear, urging his artificial neural systems to a near overload.  
“I just feel you.” She replied, sadly.  
Vision’s eyes searched hers, the gears tilting and expanding, turning and shrinking, making her smile a little. Knowing that Vision was just about as human as she was, and yet that he likely loved her anyway, gave her comfort. The AI was risking everything by being with her – his job (Avenger), his family (Stark, maybe Banner if he was around, occasionally the Spider-Boy), everything – and yet chose to while away the hours by staying with her, instead of them.  
Searching her face once more, Vision knew what he had to do. Enough to not only reassure her, but also trick himself, into thinking that everything would be alright. He dipped his head, and his soft synthetic lips met Wanda’s chapped, healing ones.

**_All I gave you now is gone_**  
“We are out of time.”.  
No.  
No.  
No.  
No, they couldn’t be.  
No.  
No.  
No.  
No, this wasn’t how their story ended.  
No.  
No, she couldn’t let him die.  
Not here, not now.  
“No.”.  
 ** _Thought we built a dynasty that heaven couldn’t shake_**  
His eyes softened, emotion brimming in them, tears threatening to spill. He knew it was foolish to delay it any longer – if Thanos got the Stone in his forehead, then half the universe would die. He couldn’t let that happen.  
But… He didn’t want to die.  
He wanted to live, to stay with Wanda, to become human.  
That wouldn’t happen if he died.  
He felt Wanda’s fear through his own, and took her hand gently.  
“I know, it’s not fair.” He said, his voice trembling. “It shouldn’t be you, but it is.”.  
 ** _Thought we built a dynasty like nothin’ ever made_**  
Wanda let the tears fall. Vision was begging her to kill him, so that the universe would stand some chance against Thanos.  
But she didn’t want him to die.  
She wanted him to live, to stay with her, to help him become human.  
That wouldn’t happen if he died.  
She felt Vision’s fear through her own, and shook her head.  
“It’s alright.” Vision said, a soft, sad smile resurfacing on his beautiful crimson face. “You could never hurt me. I just feel you.”.  
 ** _Thought we built a dynasty forever couldn’t break_**  
And who was Wanda to deny Vision what he wished for?  
The crimson tide of magic surfaced and danced at Wanda’s fingertips, before lashing out at the benevolent AI that had defied all the odds and won over the sorceress. It hurt, Vision knew it would, but he found that if he concentrated on Wanda, it hurt less. She couldn’t hurt him, and technically it was her magic that was destroying him – so technically she wasn’t hurting him at all. But it broke his artificial heart to know that she was powerless to prevent his death, and it destroyed his synthetic heart to know that his death was something that had to happen, to stop Thanos from getting all of the Stones.  
 ** _It all fell down, it all fell down_**  
The Stone suddenly split down the middle, and, knowing these were his final moments, Vision used the last of his dying energy to whisper “I love you” to the woman destroying his life source. He relaxed, smiling a little after he’d said it, and as he felt the Stone shatter and himself fade away, he even felt contented.  
Wanda, though, fell to the floor, and screamed. Thanos stood above her, towering over her tiny form, even more so than Vision had done.  
“I understand, my child.” Thanos’ booming voice came from somewhere near the sky.  
Wanda didn’t look up. She couldn’t. Vision’s dying words had been of love, of hope, of gratitude, to her. Fate was a strange thing. It chose the weak lambs to become the powerful lions, and the lions to become the broken – in much the same way as it chose her to become legendary, and her to become broken.  
“You could never.” She croaked out.  
 ** _It all fell down, all fell down_**  
Thanos chuckled a little, and then did a strange wavey thing with his hand (not too dissimilar to what Wanda did with her magic). Within a matter of seconds, there was Vision again, whole and unharmed. He had but a fleeting glance in Wanda’s direction, before the Stone was forcibly ripped from his synthetic skull, almost certainly taking his soul with it.  
No.  
No.  
No.  
Wanda collapsed again, sobbing harder than she had before, clutching her Vision’s dead body. His eyes were clouded over, and his once-vibrant crimson body now a dull grey, but it was clear that life had once inhabited the the empty shell. That an Artificial Intelligence had been born, grown up, fought as an Avenger, loved, and died, in that body. And now he was gone. Wanda heard a loud snap, but she didn’t care. Thanos had killed Vision, one of the only people left who actually cared about her – and, clearly, had felt something beyond a sense of companionship, for her. Pietro had died a few years ago, and her parents had died long before that. As a tingly feeling engulfed her body, and she plunged into darkness, Wanda welcomed the end.  
She had nothing left to live for, so why fight it?  
 **** _It all fell down, it all fell down_

**Author's Note:**

> If I'm sobbing over ScarletVision (and yes, I did cry while writing this), I'm going to drag you all down with me.
> 
> Vision and Wanda deserved better. My condolences to Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen.  
> On the plus side, though, did you hear there's a "Scarlet Witch and the Vision" limited series coming to Disney+?
> 
> The song I used was "Dynasty" by MIIA, and you can listen to it here:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JSdy3nLLYA


End file.
